Part 1 of 2
IN the beginning of Days, God spoke and said, ‘Let us make man in our image’. So he formed Adam out of the dust of the earth, and breathed life into him. He crowned Adam with such godlike virtues that he was only a little lower than the angels, and set him in Eden, a Garden of Delight.*
Seeing that Adam was lonely, God cast a sleep over him, and fashioned from one of his ribs a woman named Eve. Together they dwelt naked in Eden as stewards of his Creation, and only the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to them, on pain of death.
But the artful snake whispered to them that God had forbidden the fruit of that Tree in jealousy, knowing they would become gods like him if they but tasted it. So Eve picked the fruit, and with bated breath tasted it; and she handed some to Adam, and he too tasted it.
St John Damascene states that it is free will and these virtues, not any physical or biological characteristics, that mean that Man (i.e. every human being) is ‘in the image and likeness’ of God.
Précis
When God made Adam and then Eve, he set them to live in Eden, a delightful Garden, which was theirs to use except for one tree, which they must not eat from. A snake, however, convinced them that the tree would make them divine, so one after the other they tasted its forbidden fruit. (54 / 60 words)
Part Two
ADAM and Eve did not become gods. They became overwhelmed with doubts and anxieties, something God had hoped to spare them. Their nakedness now shamed them, and when they heard God calling for them in the Garden, they hid.*
They soon confessed everything, and the lies of the snake were laid bare; but it was now imperative that Adam and Eve should not taste also of the Tree of Life that granted immortality, or else they would remain fixed in this wretched state forever. So God banished them from the Garden, and set guardian angels and a flaming sword at its East Gate.
Adam and Eve endured a life of sorrow and hardship, returning at last to the dust from which they had come, until One should come to open to them the gates of Paradise once again. That tale begins not with the whispered lies of a snake, but with the clear voice of an angel crying, ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace.’*
See also The Emperor and the Nun, where the tense relationship between the nun Cassiani and a young Roman Emperor takes another twist thanks to this passage.
See Cynewulf’s meditation on Adam, Eve and the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary in Annunciation.
Précis
The forbidden fruit did not make Adam and Eve divine, as the snake had promised. It made them ashamed and anxious, instead of carefree as they had been before. To ensure that this state did not last for ever, God banished them from Eden and the Tree of Life, until such time as they could safely return. (57 / 60 words)